I'd like to see (and even participate in) a Firefly/Serenity-based experience. While there may be some successful one on one games out there somewhere, and maybe even a group game, for the most part the ones I have seen (and tried to experience) died rather quickly. Do I have the answer?

I dunno.

But I have an idea. It's just a theory, mind you, but it's my theory so don't expect me to be objective about it.

Ready? Okay.

First things first:

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Open recruiting for two of everything. Two captains. Two mechanics. Two pilots. Well, maybe not everything, but the stuff that's needed. This eliminates the "well, I'd like to play the pilot, but that slot's already taken" effect. At the same time, it eliminates the "we can't keep playing cause the mechanic has dropped out and the guy playing the captain is on vacation" effect.

A dumb idea you say? Why would a ship have two captains, two mechanics, etc etc. You're right, but where there's a will, there's a way. In Episode One's prologue, we learn two ships are owned by the same man/family/company/mysterious entity, or maybe the captains are friends. One ship breaks, the second ship goes to assist. It is determined the first ship is broken beyond repair. It's cargo is transferred to the sister ship, a lot of stuff is salvaged for spare parts, then it's abandoned. Now we come to Scene One, with two crews (they don't have to be complete crews, some people could have died when the ship broke), whatever passengers (if any) are there, and a lot of cargo, they set out to complete the mission(s).

Of course only one can be the captain, but the other captain would be glad to offer input, wanted or not. Would the two mechanics agree on the proper size fuse to protect the field expedient flux capacitor which was originally the backup coffee maker? Would two gunslingers have an old grudge to settle? And, as players drop out along the way, their characters are flushed out the airlock and the ship continues on its journey. Or maybe they get arrested on some nearby moon. Anyway, they ain't playin' no more, so let's move on.

Idea the Second:

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The next idea, which might seem to contradict the first, is to keep the number of players small. That's just personal, I'm sure there are thousands of games out there being played by dozens or hundreds of participants. Maybe the key isn't keeping the number small, but keeping the game moving. Or getting it going in the first place. Waiting for a dozen and a half character sheets to be submitted, during which time four people drop out and two more ask about joining, is a sure recipe for taking too long to get started.

Violate this, and ... well, let's just say it's mighty cold outside:

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Finally, and for the love of all that's holy please please please understand -- not every Firefly class ship in the universe is going to have a doctor and a registered companion on board! These are NOT "positions" that need to be filled on every ship. These are people who happened to be on one ship in a television show. I once had a doctor and a whore in my minivan at the same time. I strongly suspect that not every minivan on every road in the world that day also had a doctor and a whore in it. (Okay, it was actually a doctor and my wife, but her idea of getting rewarded for sex was close enough for her to qualify.) If the television Serenity had a transsexual vegetarian goose juggler and a mute one-armed piano player on board, would that mean that any attempt to roleplay the crew of a ship in that setting would would require YOU have a transsexual vegetarian goose juggler and a mute one-armed piano player on board? I don't think so.

A ship needs:1. Somebody in charge - like a captain.2. Somebody to drive - like a pilot.3. Somebody to fix what breaks - like a mechanic.

And while it's not reasonable for one person to operate the ship single handed all the time, one person could do more than one of these jobs if needed.

Depending on the mission of the ship, it might also need gunslingers, radar operators, cargo handlers, cooks, maids, or a veterinarian. Try to use your imagination. A preacher with a mysterious past and a prostitute in one of the shuttles has already been done. A doctor will be in a hospital or clinic or have his own talk show - all places to make more money than he would smuggling fake dog poop past the Feds. Safer, too.

So, the deal is:

A Firefly class cargo vessel (the '03 Model, of course, who needs all that vibration?) will be in space, docked with a soon to be declared derelict ship drifting aimlessly. The cargo has just been transferred over, along with everything salvageable from the old ship. Needless to say, the cargo bay is pretty crowded. Probably over the weight limit, but hey, profits is profits, and the owner just lost one of his ships, so he ain't gonna be happy losing the cargo, too.

The first to call dibs on a position (captain, mechanic, goose juggler, etc) filled that position on the working ship. The second to call it, if any, filled that position on the now-derelict ship. If more than one person can be in a position (security, for instance) then you can pick the ship you were on.

The setting will be as follows:

Space. The final frontier 'Verse. Just after the Miranda broadwave. Canon universe (Mal lives, Patience is just about Mayor of Whitefall, the right side wasn't the winning side, Badger is a weasel) but with characters of our own making. ONE character will be permitted to know personally ONE character from the TV show or movie. It will either be the first to call it, or the woman with the nicest boobs, or the person playing the female character with the nicest boobs. I haven't decided.

Given the original inspiration for the series (the American west following the Civil War) MOST (but not all) characters should have sided with the Independents, or be from places where the majority sided with the Independents. It doesn't mean you have to still be fighting the war, it means you actually have a reason to be out there on the ass-end of space smuggling fake dog poop past the Feds just to get by.

It's going to be mostly free-form, but with character generation and actions based on the official Serenity Role Playing game. You don't have to own the book, or even be familiar with it. I'll post what you need to know. Meanwhile, go ahead and give us some idea of your concept for your character.

- It's Thursday in Texas. If there's a sufficient amount of interest in the next 24 hours, I'll post more details regarding character generation and etc. - Tentative deadline for the game to launch: 48 hours from now... even if I'm the only person on board. - Can't get your character made by then? It's okay, we can go with what you have and work on it as we go. - Want to play but too busy this weekend to respond, or didn't see this until Monday after it was posted? It's okay, you can always join up later.- Want to play but don't want to commit? Fine, play a recurring character -- a crime boss, an old war buddy who can hide us from the Feds, a Companion one of our crew takes a liking to (the one with the rich uncle, because let's face it, none of us will be able to afford a companion on what we make).

One last thing. I'm not playing a captain. My character will be on the ship, but will have very little authority to make things happen. Otherwise, why wouldn't I just play with myself, right?

I want to emphasize that this will not be a dice rolling game. The following is a guideline - loosely inspired by the official roleplaying game - to assist in the creation of your character:

First, Divide 50 points among the six attributes below, representing basic abilities. Again, no dice rolling, just a device to keep things balanced and perhaps give us some indication of relative strengths and weaknesses of the characters. ("Inara, you drag the elephant out of the cargo bay while Jayne repairs the life support system and plots a course to Boros.")

The six attributes are:AgilityStrengthVitalityAlertnessIntelligenceWillpower

Skills reflect a person's training, education, and life experiences. The number of points available for skills will be based on the age you choose for your character:- For characters age 16 to 22, they get 62 skill points.- For characters age 23 to 29, they get 68 skill points.- For characters 30 and up, they get 74 skill points.

Here is a list of skills to help you out. We won't get too wrapped up in the finer details, but the more specific you are, the greater your chance of success at a particular thing, if applicable (for example -- throwing stuff vs. baseball pitcher) You're free to come up with your own skills, of course, these are just to help get the creative juices flowing.

The official game's character generation process also involves picking assets (good things) and complications (bad things.) The official game calls these Traits. I see this as something to do with the character him/her- self. Such as a physical attribute (ambidextrous, but blind in one eye) or mental (good at math, bad speller) and not something external to the character (some people love him, some people want to kill him). They don't also have to be "complementary", such as both pysical or both mental. He could be a good speller and blind in one eye. I think doing it in the spirit in which it was intended should add some flavor to the game.

I've provided a list below. Some things may not seem at first glance to be "complications". Credo? Hero worship? Memorable? Loyal? But they can certainly figure in to the play in a complicated way. A character who refuses to do certain things on the Sabbath. Refusal to believe your old commanding officer was really the one selling secrets to the enemy? "It was him alrite what robbed the bank 15 years ago, I'd know him anywhere." I doubt if Simon would have abandoned River in order to save his own skin.

I suggest everyone pick from two to five assets, and an equal number of complications. Feel free to list any or all of your character's traits as either something everyone already knows (the eye patch gave it away) or something the character wants to keep secret. If you don't want to list it on your character sheet, that's okay, just PM it to me.

Just let common sense be your guide. An actor might bring along a trunk or two full of costumes and props. A recently discharged soldier wouldn't have accumulated much, since his space had been limited. OR, maybe he did pick up a lot of stuff over the years, and it's all in storage somewhere. A guy one step ahead of the law? He would most likely be traveling lighter than everyone.

Athiests in foxholes? Not likely:

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Also, I added a spot for religious preference. Religion did play a big part in some peoples lives in the series and the movie, and even those who weren't overly religious still didn't appear to be clueless on the subject. So I think we should include some mention of it. Most people were either Christian or Buddhist. Your character doesn't have to be a good Christian or Buddhist, and it's okay if the person hasn't been to church since he left home, and it's okay to list Agnostic, Athiest, or Animist, but I'd like to keep a bit of balance to reflect the real world as it will exist in this version of the future.

Weapons:

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Yeah, I know, throwing knives strapped to every wrist and ankle and a pistol hidden under your hat, right? In the real world, a person might only suit up like that on special occasions. When the fighting starts, the character will have only what he or she has or is within reach. Since we're not going to be crunching numbers, we don't need to be too specific regarding weapons (though you can if you want to add flavor to the post.) Basically, pistols come large (the kind you see strapped to the hip which double as hammers) and small (concealed or not.) Some might be in between. Rifles come small caliber (for hunting rabbit), and large caliber (for deer and people) and rarely might include very large caliber (for hunting elephants and water buffalo.) Specialty rifles include sniper rifles, and those capable of full automatic fire (like machine guns.)

You know I have half given up on this setting, I know you pined me about it but I forgot to reply before I stared having computer issues. And then it slipped my mind that is my bad and I am sorry about that. Color me interested and willing to help, I'm on phone right now but I will read more of what you have next chance I get.

Thank you KC and Curvy. It's okay if you have lives outside Elliquiy, I understand. The main idea was not to screw around for several weeks just trying to get a crew together.

What I'd like to do is for everyone who can to put together some semblance of a character, even if he or she is not completely fleshed out, so we can get some idea of who will be in what positions. I had expected a bigger response, but I guess that was unrealistic given the limited time frame.

TO ANYONE READING THIS WHO IS INTERESTED BUT WON'T BE AVAILABLE FOR A FEW DAYS, YOU CAN STILL GET IN ON THE ACTION.

What I'm seeing now - with so few (just two or three?) starting out, is a scenario where most of a crew was "lost" (not necessarily killed, maybe quarantined, or needed to man another vessel they found - the reason not that crucial right now) so our little group has to finish the job then recruit others to fill in the missing positions -- thereby enabling players to join in later.

Nobody has to take the captain's (or first officer) slot right now. In fact, it might be interesting to start out with the pilot, mechanic, and security guy without a leader having to decide how to proceed. That doesn't mean one or more of you can't pick "captain" for your position, it just means you needn't feel obligated if you had your mind on something else.

My character for now will be a passenger who won't be a lot of help, and later I'll make someone to fill in whatever's needed after we get a crew together.

I've actually been messing around with the points, and I am kinda partial to playing a captain, someone who isn't exactly a natural leader. He has the brains for it, but might be a tad too naive or just lacking in commanding presence.

I've actually been messing around with the points, and I am kinda partial to playing a captain, someone who isn't exactly a natural leader. He has the brains for it, but might be a tad too naive or just lacking in commanding presence.

Sounds like roleplay potential to me. I'll PM you with an idea I have regarding how your character came to be captain so we can have a backstory to explain it.

Also, I neglected to mention that nobody has to use all their "points" - I just wanted to limit creation of characters of superhuman abilities ... if you want a weak character then by all means, use fewer points.

Based on some PM's I got, I thought I might address some questions/concerns here for everyones benefit.

Originally I was thinking there would be more people responding, so everyone would just have one character (which would still be a lot of characters) and as people dropped out, it would take us down to a manageable level. Now with so few of us, someone asked about playing more than one character. How do you all feel about that?

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Regarding skills, please break it down to specific skills. For instance, instead of just saying planetary vehicles, specify .. a guy who can drive a horse and wagon won't necessarily know how to pilot a submarine or repair a car. Just because you don't list it doesn't mean you can't do it. There's some assumption a person who can drive a car can do some basic repairs, and if you know how to sail a boat or pilot a yacht, you probably know a little about navigation.

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Assets and complications: I know they're not all self explanatory. I'm afraid to explain it in any more detail would require me to copy and paste the entire chapter from the rulebook, something I probably shouldn't do. Fortunately, nobody will care if anyone does it wrong ... I just thought it would help flesh out the characters.

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Here's my fairly useless passenger character. You don't have to write as much, that's just me, I tend to blab a lot.

Biography = Born into an upper-middle class family on Ariel, he is too young to have participated in the war. Even if he had been old enough, he probably still wouldn't have participated. His family knew very few people who did. His father is a professor of history and his mother a pharmacist. He has two older siblings (one of each) and a younger sister. He grew up a typical upper middle class existence - private schools but not the best, sports (though he didn't excel at any of them), music lessons. It was always assumed he would go to the university. After joining his high school newspaper staff to be close to a girl he liked, he had the opportunity to meet and interview renown journalist and war-correspondant extraordinaire Walter Mitchell. That's when he decided on a career in journalism. He also decided to take Mitchell's advice - "Into the black, young man - that's where the real human interest stories are found. People at their most basic. Their most base." After a couple of years covering garden clubs and science fair projects and the occasional fire for a local news outlet, he's now a poor freelance journalist. He carries journalistic credentials from some press association on Ariel that credentials journalists.

Other notes = "Mort" Morrison looks as young as he is: 24. He's tall, standing 6'4" and too slender for his height. He's got dark average length unruly hair and brown eyes. He is getting by on some money he managed to save from his brief stint on a news staff, and he has an "emergency" line of credit his parents set up, for barely enough money to get home. He is naive as to the ways of the world outside the core, but puts on a brave front. He knows it will get better with time, and experience. He envisions himself another Walt Mitchell, reporting from some war zone or other catastrophe, unflinching as explosions are going on around him. Right now, though, it's a little hard not to flinch at practically any loud noises. In his spare time, he writes good music and bad poetry. He's working on a novel about a group of college students who travel back in time to Earth-that-was to discover a conspiracy to destroy the environment. He's also writing a musical comedy set in a Companion house. Sometimes he stands in front of the mirror practicing what he fantasizes will be his trademark sign-off -- "And that's ... the way it was. This is Mort ... Morrison ... good day."

Weapons = A flick-knife. Other possessions = Biography = Ky is 17, born and raised on his father's cargo ship. It was an honest transport buisness until his father died and Ky's older brother took over, branching out into less legal territory to make ends meet. Young and impressionable, Ky became used to acting as a lookout or petty thief to aid his brother's plans. He always had a greater love though - picturing himself as one day being a ship's mechanic, useful in his own right.

((Eh, from here I'm torn on where this can go. Maybe his brother's crew is caught, but Ky manages to escape and seeks out work elsewhere. He's young, keen and obedient and probably willing to work for just food and board. ))

Other notes =

I hope I added the points up right. My brain doesn't do numbers.

Just rough ideas, so he can be changed if this doesn't work, but I see him idolising the mechanic on the ship (possibly to an irritating level lol)... so if any other player is up for creating that sort of relationship, that would be awesome. Or can be changed to a pilot/whatever else if it works better.